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Carson Daly Undergoes New Procedure To Relieve Chronic Back Pain

The "Barmageddon" star underwent back surgery to deal with pain he's felt since a skimobile accident in the 1990s.

By Tyler McCarthy
Carson Daly smiling as he stands on an NBC red carpet

Carson Daly returned to  “Today” Thursday after undergoing a procedure that he hopes will help him deal with the chronic back pain he’s lived with after an accident in the 1990s. 

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The "Barmageddon" star returned to the morning show in good spirits after taking some time off to recover from a new FDA-approved procedure called Intracept. As his doctor explained it to him, the idea is to target the basivertebral nerve that communicates pain from his back to his brain. While it may sound like a bad idea to ignore or mask pain, Daly is fortunate his back is structurally sound but for the intermittent pain he feels. 

Daly was working with MTV in the 1990s on location in Aspen, Colorado. He says he was being shuttled down a hill by ski patrol when they got into an accident,  according to “Today.”

"I was knocked unconscious, and I kinda came to in the snow in a toboggan, really couldn’t feel anything below my legs, one of those really scary moments,” he said. 

He reportedly suffered a T12 compression fracture, which meant that he had not severed his spine and could still walk. In fact, he remained quite active in his 20s. It’s only as he's gotten older that the sporadic back pain became more constant. Ultimately, he decided to seek this new treatment when he realized his pain was preventing him from doing things he loved with his kids. 

Daly shares son Jackson, 13, and daughters Etta, 9, London, 7, and Goldie, 2 with wife Siri Daly. 

"[My back pain'] affected my interaction with my family. It really has. I could still pick my kids up when they were little. ... But one thing I love to do is just get down on the ground and let them jump on me and roll around and play," he said.

“Today” will air a more comprehensive piece on the surgery in the future, according to PEOPLE. During his return Thursday Daly said he hopes sharing his story and shining a light on Intracept will help others who are going through the same thing. 

This is the same attitude with which he approached his recent decision to speak out about mental health and use a segment of the “Today” show to highlight others doing the same. 

"Hopefully it'll help some people because there's some new technology out there that's definitely helped relieve me of some sharp pains," he said. 

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